𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

𝟐.𝟐𝟐 - 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥

Quills scratched quietly against parchment in the Great Hall. It was the final day of your OWL exams and you were in the middle of your Theory of Charms portion. It was one of the few subjects you were actually prepared for. Yesterday, you had taken both Herbology and History of Magic and the day before that, Potions and Transfiguration.

You were seated directly behind Harry. In front of him was Ron and in front of him, Hermione. You exactly weren't sure how you had gotten seated on the Gryffindor side of the room but you weren't complaining one bit. No doubt, one of the Slytherins would have deliberately spilled ink on your exam papers anyway.

 Between the swishing of the large pendulum at the front of the room and the new ache in your palm, you couldn't focus for more than five minutes on the task at hand. Tests at Hogwarts were so much different from the ones at Ilvermorny. 

For one, they weren't multiple choice questions like you had been anticipating. Damn you American testing methods.

 Umbridge's heels clicked softly against the floor as she paced back and forth at the head of the room. Every so often you would make eye contact but before she could acknowledge it, your head would duck back down to your paper as you fiddled with the quill. 

 'Question fifteen, name the incantation for the Shield Charm and describe in three sentences or less which circumstances it would be appropriate to use such a charm.'

You rolled your eyes and tapped the corner of your quill against the paper. 'Trick question,' you wrote. 'Any and all unsupervised magic use is frowned upon.'

While you knew it would be marked as correct, it felt just as wrong as not writing anything at all. The real answer, by the way, was Protego. 

 You raised your quill, contemplating scratching out your previous answer when your desk jolted and a loud boom echoed from further away in the castle.

 Chairs creaked as everyone began looking up and around. Harry swivelled around in his seat to look at you questioningly and you shrugged. Maybe there had been another mishap in the Potions classroom. Just last week, Seamus Finnigan poured the wrong substance into his cauldron and it filled the dungeons with red smoke. 

 You were about to go back to your exam when again, there was another boom. This one was closer and much louder than the first. You dropped your quill and instead clutched both sides of the desk to retain your balance. It definitely was not a potion gone wrong. 

 A low murmur rose up amongst the students but was quickly silenced by the sound of Umbridge's footsteps as she made her way down the center aisle. As soon as she waddled to the very end of the room and thrust open the double doors, the loud thundering sound came to a sudden halt. Everyone, it seemed, disregarded the 'eyes on your own paper' rule to instead sit up and twist around so that they could see just what was going on.

You rested your knee on the chair and watched as Umbridge stepped out into the corridor with  bated breath. For what felt like a whole minute, nothing happened. The only sound in the room was the occasional loud swooping of the pendulum. She was about to turn around to re-enter the Great Hall when a swirling stream of red and blue light shot over her head and exploded mid-air in the center of the room.

 A few people yelled out in surprise and you turned back around to see Harry blinking at the spot on the ceiling where the light had erupted into a shower of sparks. Umbridge had her face screwed up in anger as she strutted back inside.

Right when she crossed the threshold back into the Great Hall, two blurred figures on brooms knocked her to the ground as they flew in. You didn't even need to see their faces to recognize them. 

It was Fred and George.

You gasped and stood up out of your seat as they threw up their wands and made everyone's papers shoot off of their desks. One of the twins reached into his satchel and produced another firework, tossing it up into the air and flying away before it exploded. Before you knew it, the Great Hall was shrouded in a smokey blue haze.

Everyone abandoned their desks to instead stand up and watch the impromptu lightshow as it unfolded. You nearly doubled over in laughter as a single red firework chased after Draco who ran off into the corridor to avoid getting hit. Ashes and embers rained down onto desks and you reached out your arms, spinning around in circles as if it were a thunderstorm after months of drought.

Amidst the chaos, you somehow caught Fred's eye as he held up a bright red firework that was almost the size of his head. He winked and tossed it up in the air before catching it in his opposite hand. 

 "This one's for you, Firethorn!" He shouted, though you weren't sure many people heard it over the roar of firecrackers that George had unleashed on the other side of the room.

"Oh no," you laughed, stepping back as Fred jokingly kissed the side of the explosive before tapping it with his wand and dropping it from his broom. He then sped away as physically possible, following George back out the double doors of the Great hall.

The red and orange blast from the massive firework was nearly blinding and you had to cup your hands over your eyes to watch it take the shape of a large dragon in the air. The dragon reared its wide head and everyone oohed and ahhed loudly as it descended upon the crowd.

 Umbridge, who had at one point recovered from being toppled over, was once again hurried out of the room as the dragon unhinged it's wide jaws and chased after her quickly, roaring and hissing loudly. You had to admit, the Weasley twins knew how to orchestrate a good prank.

The floor beneath your feet rumbled as it chomped down on her cowering figure and de-materialized into several thousand individual sparks which then flew up and knocked into the wall of Educational Decrees. The plaques began falling one by one and shattering all around Umbridge's feet.

 It was justice in its purest, most cinematic form.

 As the explosions cleared away, all that was left behind was a thick cloud of smoke that swirled around your legs like fog. Everyone looked around, unclear of what to do, before all at once pouring out the doors in a massive swarm. You grabbed for Harry's hand and held it so that you didn't get lost as the crowd moved to reform in the courtyard.

 Fred and George, still mounted on their brooms, seemed to be absorbing the applause they were receiving from their fellow students. They both continued to toss explosives from their bags, most of which you were proud to admit you had supplied them with, until the finale. 

 A large, sparkling letter W took shape in the sky. It was bright orange in color and it stayed in place long after the others fizzled away into nothing.

You were all smiles, clapping and bouncing on your heels as you craned your neck to get a better look. You found yourself waving after the twins long after they soared off across lake and over the horizon. 

 "Thank you!" You cried after them, your words disappearing against the whoops and hollers of everyone else. It seemed that the whole school had appeared to see what all the ruckus was about.

 A hand reached out for yours and still smiling, you whipped your head around to see Harry with an absent look on his face. "Harry?" Your smile disappeared as he slowly sank to the floor, face as white as a sheet. You crouched down beside him and people cleared away to give both of you some space. "Harry, talk to me. What's wrong?"

 He said nothing, only squeezing your hand tightly in his own. You looked up and around, trying to catch sight of either Ron or Hermione but the crowd had gotten too thick and you were surrounded on all sides by people you didn't recognize. Harry's dark green eyes ghosted past yours, almost as if you were invisible.

"Sirius-!" he blurted out suddenly, breaths coming out short and quick. "Sirius is in trouble." 

 (A/N: Sorry this chapter's so short. I think the next ones are pretty long up until the epilogue. I am so excited for year 6 guys. You have no idea the drama I am about to introduce. Anyway, hope this is enough to tide you over for a few hours or at most tomorrow night. I'm going to start decorating for halloween this weekend so I might publish a spooky fic I've been thinking about for awhile. If you have any ideas, PM me).